Electrical firearm



J. L. MGGULLOUGH.

(-No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

ELECTRICAL FIREARM.

Patented Feb. 13, 1894,

W'me Jifef;

MVM

(No Medel.)

Patented Feb. 13, 1894.'

.ullllllu k// j@ e (.No Model.) v3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. L. MQGULLOUGH. ELECTRICAL FIREARM.

No. 514;491. A Patented Feb. 13, 1894.

fama je 0J? Mfff v NNNNNNNNNNNN cv tirarmi-rn Sterns Ferrand Ormes.

JOHN L. MCOULLOUGH, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ELECTRICAL FiREARlVl.

SPECIFICATION' forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,491, dated February 13, 1894.

Application iiledApril 7,1893. Serial No. 469,417. (No model.)

To all-whom it may concern:

1 3e it known that I, JOHN I.. MCCULLOUGH, a c1t1zen of the United States, and a residentof the city ofBrooklyn,in the county of Kings and State 0f New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Firearms, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to the class of fire arms wherein the ignition is effected by an incandescent Wire or filament when au electric c1rcuit is closed. In carrying out the invention I adapt this mode of ignition to a magazine gun.

Theinvention Will be fully described hereinafter and its novel features carefully delined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated an embodiment of my invention.

i Figure lis a vertical longitudinal mid-section of the main or lock portion of a gun constructed according to my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical longitudinal sectional VleWS, in different planes, of a portion of the gun nearer the muzzle thereof than the section in Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken substantially in the broken plane indicated byline IV, IV, in Fig. l; and Fig. 4 is also a horizontal section in the plane of line IVa-IV, in Fig.l0. Figs. 5, 6,7, S, 9 and 10 are, respectively transverse sections taken in the planes indicated by the lines V-V, VI- VI, VII-VII, VIII-VIII, IX-IX and X-X, in Figs. l and 2. Fig. l1 is a plan View of a part of the operating slide. Fig. 12 is a horizontal section taken in the plane of the axis of the chambered carrier. Fig. 13 is a perspective View of the sliding breech-block, detached. Fig. 14 is an enlarged perspective View showing the construction of the cuttertube and the cutter for puncturing the butt of the cartridge-shell. Fig. l5 illustrates the construction of the cartridge. Fig. 16 is a longitudinal section of the loading and extracting plunger on an enlarged scale, detached. Fig. 17' is a general View on a small scale of the gun and its battery.

l represents the metal frame and casing Which incloses the principal operative mechanism of the gun and connects the stock (not shown) with the barrel, 2.

In vertically arranged keepers in the frame is mounted a partition plate 3, Wl ich carries a pin, 4, on which is mounted a chambered cylindrical carrier, 5. This construction is clearly shown in Fig. l2. The carrier 5 (Seen in end elevation in Fig. 9) is slipped on the pin 4, and the carrier and plate 3 slipped down into the casing l, before the top-plate ofthe casing is secured thereon.

Under the barrel 2, is situated the magazine, 6, which is of the usual tubular form. This magazine, as hereinshown,willbe aligned with one of the four chambers, 5, in the carrier when another one of said chambers is at the index point, or in line with the bore in the barrel 2.

Back of the plate 3, in the casing, is asliding breech-block, 7, which plays to and fro in keeper-guides, lain the sides of the easing l. This block 7 carries two plnngers, one of Which registers With the chamber 5 in the carrier 5 which is at the index point, and the other with one of the side chambers 5, that is, the one which contains the empty shell and which was last at the index point This last is the ejecting plunger, 7, seen in Fig. 12. The former is the loading plunger, 8, seen in Figs. l, 4 and 1G; it serves to drive the cartridge (n: in Figs. l and 4) from the chamber in the carrier into the cartridge chamber in the barrel, and also, on its back stroke or movement, to withdraw the empty shell from the barrel into the chambered carrier. The peculiarities of this plunger 8 will be more minutely described hereinafter.

9 is the operating slide, mounted to play in guides longitudinally of the barrel, and below the magazine. This slide 9 is in the form of a tube, but it has a plate, 9X, secured to its crown, as clearly seen in the cross-section in Fig. 9. This plate, which is really a part of the slide proper, does not extend the entire length of the tubular part. On the operating slide is fixed a grip, 9, of the usual kind, for moving the slide to and fro in loading. The plate 9x of the operating slide is seen in plan in Fig. ll. It engages and operates the sliding block 7, through the medium of pendent lugs 7b (see Fig. 13) on the block which engage between lateral shoulders 9b, on the plate 9X. In order that the operating slide may move back to some extent at first Without the block 7 partaking of this movement, I make the lugs 7 b on the block quite narrow IOO as compared with the space between the shoul. ders 9b (see Fig. 11) on the plate 9X. The rea son for this will be hereinafter explained.

The construction of the plunger 8 is best illustrated in Fig. 16, where it is represented as formed integrally with the block 7, as it may be. This plunger is tubular, and when the sliding block 7 is at the end of its forward movement (as in Figs. l and 4), the forward end of the plunger embraces the cartridge shell for a considerable part of its length. Within the tubular body of the plunger is a cutter-tube, 8, fixed in position in the axis of the plunger. This cutter-tube (see Fig. 14) bears on its front end an angular cutter, 8b, which is adapted to be driven through the thin metal which closes the butt of the cartridge shell. Exterior to the cuttertube 8a, and embracing the same within the tubular plunger, 8, is a tube 8, which is free to slide to and fro with the latter.

When the parts are assembled as in Figs. 1 and 4, a lug, 1", on the cap-plate ot' the casing 1, depends into a slot, 8d, in the tubular plunger 8, and takes behind the rear extremity of the tube 8, whereby when the plunger 8 is retracted, it carries the empty cartridge shell back with it until the shell is fairly lodged within the chamber in the carrier 5; but at this moment the rear end of the tube 8c strikes the lug 1b and is arrested, and in its further backward movement, (the shell being arrested by the tube 86,) the plunger 8 frees itself and draws away from the shell, leaving it in the carrier. I may say here, that the shell of the cartridge (see Fig. 15) has no iiange, and its end-plate being slit by the cutter 8", it will be expanded and flared slightly at its butt by the explosion of the charge; and I utilize this expansion to t it in the embracing end of the tubular plunger 8 with sufficient stability to insure the shell being extracted. To effect this, I enlarge the inner diameter of the plunger at the point where the base or butt of the shell is situated when the charge is ignited, and the shell is expanded into this enlargement, which is clearly shown at 8e in Fig. 16. After the sliding block 7 and its plunger 8, have been drawn back far enough to lodge the shell in the indexed chamber of the carrier 5, the latter will be rotated, by the further backward movement of the operating slide, through the medium of a stud, 10, on the plate 9X. This stud imparts a small portion of the rotation necessary to bring the next chamber in the carrier to the index point, the main portion of the movement being effected by a stud, 10x, in said plate on the next forward motion of the op` erating slide. This device for rotating the carrier is substantially the same as that embodied in my pending application Serial No. 454,925, and I do not claim it herein. Indeed my present invention is not limited to any specific means for rotating the carrier. I need only say that the carrier has straight and oblique grooves, as seen in the dotted lines in Fig. 11, along which the non-aligned studs 10 and 10K play. After the operating slide has been drawn or moved back to its full extent, it is pushed forward again; the plunger 8 drives the cartridge at the index point into the barrel, and the ejecting plunger drives the empty shell out of the carrier. When the plunger. drives the cartridge home, the cutter or blade at the extremity of the cutter-tube within the hollow plunger, penetrates the thin metal at the butt of the shell and thus exposes the powder so that it may be ignited.

I will now describe the means I employ for igniting the charge by pulling the trigger, premising that when the trigger is pulled it locks the block 7 against the recoil, advances a platinum loop through the tubular plunger until it is in contact with the powder, and then closes an electric circuit through said loop to produce incandescence.

1l is the trigger, which is somewhat in the form of an inverted L, or bell-crank, being fulcrumed in the frame 1 at 11 (Fig. 1). The lower extremity of the trigger depends in the usual manner into the trigger guard, and the upper, nearly horizontal arm, 11X, thereof, extends forward and stands, normally, just above a rear extension, 7"", on the upper part of the block 7. Thus, when the trigger is pulled, this arm descends until its free cxtremity takes behind the said extension and prevents the recoil of the block.

11b is the trigger spring.

Vithin the cutter-tube 8, and co-incident with the axis of the tubular plunger 8, is a rod, 12, of some suitable refractory material, which has an endwise movement through the plunger and the block 7. This rod maybe made from indurated fiber, which is a nonconductor, and it has embedded in its mass two conducting wires which are electrically connected, at the forward end of the rod by a loop 13, of platinum wire. At its rear end, where it projects from the bore in the sliding block 7, it is attached to a cross-bar, 12X, the extremities of which rest in forks in the upper ends of the arms of a rocking frame, 14, which rocks in bearings, 15, on the block 7.

Extending through the tubular part of the operating slide 9, is a rod, 16, which is coupled to the trigger 11 at 16X, and has a cross-bar, 16', which takes in front of the lower extremities of the arms of the frame 14, below the rocking bearings of said frame. When the trigger is pulled, the rod 16 is drawn back, thus rocking the frame 14, and moving the rod 12 forward in the plunger 8 until the platinum loop, 13, enters the slit cut in the cartridge shell and comes into contact with the powder of the charge. At this moment," that is, at the moment the rod 12 reaches the end of its forward movement, the circuit will be closed through the loop 13, and the charge ignited. I will now describe how this is effected.

Under the barrel 2, forward of the grip 9,

TOO

IIO

is a housing' 17, secured to the barrel, and the front end of this housing is closed byablock or plate, 173,'which l prefer to make ofinsulating material. The front end of the tubular operating slide 9, and of the rod 1G, play in this housing. Two conductors, 18 and 19, lead from the respective poles of a conveniently located battery or generator 2O (see Fig. 17) to the block 17x (see Figs. 2, 3 and 8). The conductor 18 (Fig. 2) connects electrically with a spring contact tinger, 18X, which rests on, and is always in contact with the raised or enlarged front end or extremity 163, of the rod 16. The conductor 19 (see Fig. 3) is connected with a long spring contact finger, 19X, which extends back in the housing 17 and bears constantly, at its free end, on acontact plate, 19 (see Fig. 10) set in the crown of the tubular operating slide`9, and insulated from said slide. Within the tubular slide 9, is an insulated conductor 192, which connects at its front end with the plate 19', and at its rear end with an insulated contact plate 193 (see Fig. 11), on and carried by the plate 9X, and insulated therefrom. This plate 193, is connected electrically with one branch of the platinum loop 13, through the medium of a contact spring 194, one branch of which rests on the plate 193 and the other branch bears on the pendent terminal of a conductor, 195, which extends through the rod 12 (see Fig. 16), connecting at its front end with one branch of the loop 13. l/Vithin the tubular slide 9, is another insulated conductor 182 which is connected at its front end (Figs. 2, 4:3, and 10) with a contact finger, 18, secured to the tubular extremity of the slide 9, its free end being normally out of contact with the rod 1G. The conductor 183, is connected at its rear end with an insulated contact plate, 183 (see Fig. 11) arranged alongside of the plate 193, on the plate 9x. This plate 183, is connected with the other branch of the platinum loop 13, by means of a contact spring 184, precisely like the spring 194, and placed by the side of the latter. The upper branch of this spring 184 bears on the pendent terminal 4of a conductor 185 (see Fig. 16) which extends through the rod 12, and connects at its front end with a branch of the platinum loop 13. Normally, the break in the electric circuit isin the housing 17, where the linger 18 is out of contact with the rod 16. When the gun is ready for tiring, as in Fig. 1, the operator pulls the trigger. This has the eiect to drive the rod 12 forward until the platinum loop 13 is in contact with the powder; and it also has the effect to draw back the rod 16. At the termination of the movement the rounded shoulder 163on the forward end of the rod 16, is brought into contact with the spring iin ger, 18, which serves to close the circuit the current then iiowingtreely through the rod 16 between the fingers 18xi and 18. Vhen the operating slide 9 is drawn back in loading, the contact plates 183 and 193 are drawn back and out of Contact with the respective contact springs 184 and 194, so

l,that it will be impossible for the current to flow through the platinum loop while the parts are in this position. This latter feature is not, however, really essential. The contact springs 184 and 194, being arranged side by side, do not both appear in Fig. l, the spring 184 completely obscuring the other. These springs are herein shown as of bellcrank form and mounted on the pivot pin of the frame 14, but insulated therefrom and from each other, of course. When the circuit is closed the current flows from one pole or the generator through the conductor 18,to the linger 18X, thence through rod 16 to contact finger 18, lthence through conductor 182 to plate 183, thence through spring 184 to conductor 185, thence to and through the platinum loop 13 to conductor 195, thence through spring 194 to contact plate 193, thence through conductor 193, thence to the plate 19', thence through contact linger 19x to the conductor 19, and thence back to the other pole of the generator. The generator may be a battery 20, and when the gun is used for target purposes it may be placed conveniently near and connected to the gun by the conductors 18 and 19, as clearly shown in Fig. 17. For this purpose, these conductors may be of tinsel cord and these cords may be loosely twisted together. Several guns may be thus connected with a single generator, the cords being of suihcient length to permit the free use of the guns.

It is not really necessary to enlarge the front end of the rod 16; any form of shoulder on the rod to contact with the linger and close the circuit, will serve. Indeed the particular construction of this part of the gun is not essential to the invention.

I have stated that the operating slide has a certain amount ot movement which is not partaken of by the sliding block7. The purpose of this is to allow the operating slide, on its outstroke, to rotate the chainbered carrier before the sliding block starts forward. Of course, if room were provided in the casing, the block 7 might move back as far as the slide, but this would extend the casing unduly, and it is not at all necessary.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- K 1. In a breech-loading tire-arm, the combination with a chambered carrier for the cartridge, of a reciprocating tubular plunger adapted to play through the chamber in the carrier and drive the cartridge therefrom into the cartridge chamberin the barrel, said plunger being provided at its front end with an extractor and a cutter to pierce the butt 0f the cartridge-shell, and means substantially as described for igniting the charge by apull on the trigger of the piece, as set forth.'

2. In a breech-loading gun, the combination of a chambered carrier for the cartridge, of a reciprocating tubular loading plunger for ICO IIO

f ydriving the cartridge from' the carrier into they f rCaitMClge rchamber of thevbarrel, saidplunger belng rprovided at its fronty end rwith an eX'-r f tractor and a cutter for piercing the butt 0f the cartridgeeshell, a reciprocating rod 12, in

said'loadingplunger, afloop 13, carried by said rod, i an electric' circuit of which said loop forms a part, and means, substantially as described whereby va pully on the rtriggerfof the piece advances said loop into contact with 'the charge and closes s'aid'eleetric circuit, asv

set forth. v f f f 3. In a breech-loading tire-arm, the combi- 'nation' with the chalnbered'carrier for thefcartridges, of a sliding block 7, arranged *behindy the carrier and providedwithia loading` plunger, means for reciprocating ysaid block', `'and f the triggei` 11, provided with a forwardly proi plunger 8,'furnished with a cutter, the loop-v l `jeeting arnrllx, the free end of which descends behind said block 7, when the trigger is pulled and serves to resist the effect ofthe recoil on the blockgvas set forth'. f

' v 4,' In a breech-loading lire-arm,ft`ne conubi-y nation with the chambered carrier for the car-y y ytrldge,,the vreciprocating block 7,*b`ack of the' carrier and provided with a rtubular loading 1 carrying bar 12, in the'plunger 8,' and coupledv tridges, and the tubular, reciprocating, loading plunger, 8, provided with an enlargement, Se, near its front end for the cartridge-shell to expand into when the charge explodes, and with a cutter for piercing the shell, of means 5.' 'In' va breechloading rea'rm, the combif f nation with the charnbered carriert'orthe carsubstantially as ydescribed, yforv igniting the charge by electricity,as set forth. y y y 6. In a breech-loading.tire-arm, the combirnation witha tubularr loading` plunger for driving ytheshell into the cartridge chambery f an' electric circuitot' which said yloop forms a part, aftrigger,y and means intermediatev *they trigger and the loop-carrier whereby the loop is vmovedy into contact with they charge, and the electric circuit closed', by pulling on the trigger, yas set forth. f f

,of the barrel, a cutter carried yby the plunger y y yforpiercng the cartridge shelland means f yfory operating ysaid plunger, of av loop 13, al rcarrier therefor arranged within the plunger,y y

, I7. In a breech-loading lire-arm,,theV combination With/aliev tubular loading plunger 8,

yprovided with ythe angular cutter, Sb, near its rforward end, ot' an electric circuit, a loop 13,

forming apart oty said circuit, a ycarrier yfor Within the cutteiyas set forth. y

vsaid loop,y and ymeans yintermediate the trig.-r l vger andv loop-'carrier whereby when the triglgelis pulled the loopv winne movedfforward 65 8. The 'combination with a fire-ar1nadapted f for discharge by electricity, of an electric charge iguiting eircuitpartly iuclosed Within the casing of thefire-Iarm and partly without said casing, rand havingv a circuit-closer `Within the receiver anda generatorin said circuit, y

vsaid generator being detachedy from the firearm and yconnected electrically,therewith ythrough theI medium of ilexibleconductors, as set forth. f

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name yin the presence *ofy two vsubscribing Witnesses.y f, l ,y y

JOI-1N L. MGCULLOUGH.

Witnesses:

HERBERT BLossoM,

PETER A. Ross.

sofy 

